Stephen Colbert has apparently been taken in by the Hachette hype; he did a couple of segments on his show lambasting Amazon for making it harder for people to buy his books, including an interview with author Sherman Alexie. J.A. Konrath was not amused, firing back with a post intended to be humorous but that really just came off as ranty. (It’s a lot harder to be funny when you can’t mug for the camera.)

Of course, it’s worth noting that Colbert’s persona on his show is a put-on, a strawman send-up of the far right, so as such the ersatz Colbert’s ego would clearly be engaged in anything that prevented his books from reaching a wider audience. It’s unclear what the real Colbert believes.

But perhaps even more interesting is a related story that Colbert has made arrangements with Powell’s to sell copies of debut novelist Edan Lupucki’s book California (another Hachette title) via his web site. Powell’s reports it’s now the store’s bestselling preorder. Does this, as Salon suggests, make Colbert the new “Oprah”?

Not that all this Amazon bashing seems to be affecting Amazon’s reputation among consumers. YouGov Brand Index reports that Amazon’s consumer perception is holding pretty steady. There are fluctuations up and down, but it’s staying within the same range it was before the Hachette story broke. Looks like most consumers are still willing to believe good things of the Everything Store so far. (Found via The Digital Reader.)